SES attacks Latino markets

By Chris Forrester

Luxembourg-based satellite giant SES is to create new capacity for the Latin American market. It is ordering SES-10, a new satellite which will serve the region – including the Caribbean – from 67 degrees West in an orbital slot negotiated with the Andean Community. It will launch in 2016.

SES-10 will be built by Astrium (via its Airbus Defence and Space owners). SES has selected SpaceX to launch the new satellite on one of its Falcon-9 rockets.

SES is already active from 67 degrees West with its AMC-3 and AMC-4 satellites which this new craft will replace, and add incremental capacity.

SES says the new satellite – ordered through SES’s wholly-owned subsidiary SES Satellite Leasing – will expand SES’s capabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean through high power beams tailored to provide direct-to-home broadcasting, enterprise and broadband connectivity services in the entire region. “SES-10’s comprehensive coverage includes Mexico, Central America and South America, as well as the Caribbean. The satellite will be positioned at the 67 degrees West orbital position, pursuant to an agreement between the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) and SES, which provides for use of the Andean Community’s Simon Bolivar 2 satellite network. The specifically designed beam of SES-10 over the Andean Community Member States, combined with its optimum elevation angle, represents a unique proposition for telecommunications operators, broadcasters and service providers for the Andean countries.”

SES-10 is the 10th Astrium craft and uses its Eurostar E3000 platform. “This new contract is a significant win for Airbus Defence and Space and further reinforces our long-standing relationship with SES, which has today asked us to build their 10th Eurostar satellite,” said François Auque, Head of Space Systems. “This order also demonstrates our customers’ faith in our electrical propulsion technology for station-keeping, a technology that we are among the few in the world to be able to demonstrate in orbit, something we have now been doing for 10 years.”

Romain Bausch, President and CEO of SES, states: “We are pleased to work once again with our long-standing supplier Airbus Defence and Space on the SES-10 mission. SES-10 will provide our customers in Latin America with fresh, high power satellite capacity for multiple applications at an established orbital slot.”